This invention relates generally to hand tools and more specifically to hand tools for torquing hard to turn screws, fasteners, and the like.
A wide variety of fasteners are known in the art. Of particular interest to this invention are fasteners which are secured or removed using a torquing or twisting action. These include, but are not limited to, wood screws, metal screws, various bolts, nuts, and the like.
A corresponding wide variety of fastener tools are also known in the art. These include flat head screwdrivers, phillips head screwdrivers, allen head wrenches, star head drives, socket drives, and others. Each of these tools are used to apply torque to a fastener.
Although these tools function well in many situations, there are many situations in which they function poorly or do not function at all. One area in which the known tools function poorly is in loosening and tightening very hard to turn screws and the like.
Everyone has experienced the frustration of attempting to either loosen a frozen screw or tighten a hard to turn screw. All too often the screwdriver blade will repeatedly slip off the head of the screw. Worse, when the screwdriver blade slips off the screw head, the screw head is often damaged making further attempts even more difficult.
To prevent the screwdriver blade from slipping, the user must exert inordinate amounts of force to hold the screwdriver blade firmly against the screw head. This is a strenuous, and often unsuccessful, solution to the dilemma.
Prior attempts to solve this problem generally involved modifications to a conventional screwdriver handle to allow a user to exert increased pressure and/or torque on the screwdriver blade and screw head. These tools, although improvements, do not amplify the force of the user to achieve significant improvements in effectiveness. Because of this, these tools have achieved only moderate success.
There continues to be a need for a device which is simple and which overcomes the problem of loosening and tightening very hard to turn fasteners such as screws, bolts, nuts, and the like.
Clearly, there exists a need for a new fastener driving tool which is simple, easily manufactured, adjustable, and amplifies a user's strength for loosening or tightening hard to turn fasteners.